Team 26 leaves D.C. for Newtown, cycling to raise awareness on gun violence

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Team 26 leaves D.C. for Newtown, cycling to raise awareness on gun violence

NEWTOWN — For the 5th consecutive year, Team 26 has hit the road. The cyclists left the nation’s capitol on Thursday with plans to roll into Newtown on Sunday, May 7.

Team 26 is a group of cyclists who joined together after the Sandy Hook Tragedy, in honor of the 26 victims. They ride and rally to raise awareness on gun violence. While pushing Congress to pass stricter gun control laws, which they say would make Americans safer.

Alexis Wainwright with Medill News Service, was at the kick off in Washington D.C, where Representative Jim Hines, Senators Murphy and Blumenthal, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi saw the group off.

Elected officials joined the cyclists in front of the U.S. Capitol Thursday morning to help raise awareness for the cause. Connecticut Representative Jim Hines said, “No issue, no issue makes me more sad as our failure to stand up to gun violence in this building behind me.”

While Team 26 usually leaves from Connecticut for Washington, this year they’re doing the opposite. They plan to cycle through states that are working to reduce gun violence while stopping in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey before heading home.

Cyclist organizer, Monte Frank, stressed his gratitude for the support by saying, “the power of the leadership that we’ve seen here today from the Connecticut delegation, from the California delegation and throughout the country will certainly be the wind on our backs that we need to drive the message home.”

No federal gun control legislation has been passed since the Sandy Hook Tragedy, but Senator Chris Murphy says, what Team 26 does is “symbolic of how this grass roots movement is building.”